Lesson video

Hello, everyone.

How are you doing today? I hope you're really, really good.

My name's Ms. Afzal.

I'm feeling great, because today we are getting into performing Karl Nova's poem, "The City of my birth." It's such an amazing poem, and it's really just written to be performed, so I cannot wait to find out how you get on with this.

Let's get started.

The outcome for today's lesson is, "I can perform the poem, 'The City of my birth' by Karl Nova." We have some keywords in our lesson.

Let's go through them.

My turn, your turn.

Atmosphere, rhythm, flow, syllable.

Fantastic.

Let's find out what these words mean.

Atmosphere is the feeling or mood created in a section or whole of a text.

Rhythm, the pattern of sounds made by the words and stresses when spoken aloud.

Flow, how smoothly the words of a poem move from one to the next.

And syllable, it's a beat within a word.

Let's look out for these words.

They will be coming up in our lesson today.

So here's our lesson, "Performing the poem, 'The City of my birth' by Karl Nova." It has two parts to it, exploring rhythm and performing the poem.

Let's begin with exploring rhythm.

"The City of my birth" is a poem written by Karl Nova in his collection, "Rhythm and Poetry." Karl Nova is influenced by hip-hop culture.

He likes to write poetry that young readers will enjoy.

"The City of my birth" is a free verse poem.

There's no set rhyme scheme or structure.

The poem vividly describes the city he was born in, London.

Select the statements that are true.

"There is no set rhyme scheme in 'The City of my birth'.

Karl Nova's poems are influenced by hip-hop culture.

There is a set rhyme scheme in 'The City of my birth'.

Karl Nova was born in Nigeria." Pause the video, discuss with someone nearby, and select the statements that are true.

So which statements did you select as true? Hopefully this one, There is indeed no set rhyme scheme in "The City of my birth" and Karl Nova's poems are indeed influenced by hip-hop culture.

Well done if you selected these two statements.

Now let's explore hip-hop culture in some more detail.

Hip-hop culture is a way for people to express themselves through music, dance, art and words.

It started in the 1970s in big cities like New York in America.

Hip-hop encourages people to be creative and to share their stories, both such important things, and it includes all these art forms, rap, which is rhythmic talking set to music, break dancing, energetic dancing with spins and flips, it's amazing, and beatboxing, making music, drum sounds, or beats with your mouth.

Wonder if you've heard that before.

So as we can see, hip-hop culture is pretty rich.

It's pretty fantastic.

Now I'd like you to match the hip-hop art form to its description.

So we've got rap, breakdancing, and beatboxing and the descriptions: making music, drum sounds, or beats with your mouth, rhythmic talking set to music, energetic dancing with spins and flips.

Pause the video while you match up the hip-hop art form to its description.

So rap is rhythmic talking set to music.

Breakdancing is energetic dancing with spins and flips.

And beatboxing is making music, drum sounds, or beats with your mouth.

Well done if you matched the hip-hop art forms to these descriptions.

"The City of my birth" is influenced by Karl Nova's love for hip-hop culture.

Like hip-hop music, the poem has a natural rhythm and flow.

Let's look at these words.

So rhythm is the pattern of sounds made by the words and stresses when spoken aloud.

Flow is how smoothly the words of a poem move from one to the next.

I'll read the poem aloud and you listen for its rhythm and flow.

The poem can also be found in the additional materials.

"I spy with my London eye Big Ben tallying the time as these thoughts like the River Thames flow through my mind Thoughts of love for my city Like tube trains move quickly Although unlike them there's no delay, swiftly like red buses that move through the streets Like the blood pumping through my veins as my heart beats I feel a rush of blood for the city of my birth I might be biassed, it's one of the greatest on earth I stand still on Westminster Bridge watching the movement of different people moving around I am grooving to music pumping in my headphones, I crack a smile London is my playground and I am its child." So I'm going to comment on the poem's flow.

Karl Nova uses enjambment across some lines.

This helps the poem flow from one line to the next.

I noticed that he also uses the word flow in the fourth line, so there's flow in his flow.

And now it's your turn to comment on the poem's flow.

Do you think it flows naturally? What elements does Karl Nova include to make it flow? Pause the video while you discuss these questions with someone nearby.

Okay, I hope you enjoyed your discussion about flow.

And now let's explore the poem's atmosphere.

A poem's atmosphere creates a feeling in us when we read it.

Karl Nova creates a poem with a busy, energetic, and joyful atmosphere.

He does this by making careful language choices that create vivid pictures in the reader's mind.

Here's Alex.

"I think the poem has a busy atmosphere.

Words like 'flow', 'quickly', 'swiftly', 'pumping', and 'rush' remind me of fast things." Yeah, we can kind of hear that even as we speak those words.

Yeah, thank you, Alex.

Here's Andi.

"I think the atmosphere is joyful because Karl Nova uses words like 'love', 'greatest' and 'smile'.

I can tell he loves his city." Yep, he certainly does.

Thank you.

Andi.

I would like you to match the word from the poem to what it describes.

So we have flow, quickly, pumping, the movement, and then we have tube trains, his blood, people in London, his thoughts, and his music.

Pause video while you match the word from the poem to what it describes.

Okay, did you match flow with his thoughts, quickly, the tube trains, pumping, his blood and his music, and the movement of people in London.

Well done for spotting that Karl Nova uses the word pumping twice.

Pretty important word in this poem.

Now let's see if the poem's rhythm matches its atmosphere.

I'll read it again.

You listen to see if you can feel and hear its rhythm.

"I spy with my London eye Big Ben tallying the time as these thoughts like the River Thames flow through my mind Thoughts of love for my city Like tube trains move quickly Although unlike them there's no delay, swiftly like red buses that move through the streets Like the blood pumping through my veins as my heart beats I feel a rush of blood for the city of my birth I might be biassed, it's one of the greatest on earth I stand still on Westminster Bridge watching the movement of different people moving around I am grooving to music pumping in my headphones, I crack a smile London is my playground and I am its child." I'm going to comment on the poem's rhythm.

I felt myself tapping my foot or nodding my head along to the beat.

It felt natural, like when you tap the beat to a song or a rap.

And now I'd like you to discuss and to comment on the poem's rhythm.

Do you feel yourself tapping along to the beat? Which part has the easiest rhythm to follow? Pause the video while you have this discussion.

Okay, I hope you enjoyed discussing the poem's rhythm.

And let's explore the rhythm in a little more detail.

We'll count the syllables in each line.

These are the beats in a word.

We'll also highlight which syllables we can stress to help emphasise the rhythm.

So we have, "I spy with My London eye Big Ben telling the time." These two lines are roughly the same length, so they can be spoken at a steady pace.

This next line is a little longer with eight syllables.

The same steady pace from the first two lines can still be kept.

But the final line is shorter with just four syllables, and it forces us to slow down when we say it.

So the first two lines, "Thoughts of love for my city Like tube trains move quickly," these two lines are roughly the same length.

They can be spoken at a steady pace.

The next two lines are shorter.

They force us to slow down, "Although unlike them there's no delay, swiftly." And then, the next two lines are longer.

They force us to speed up.

And this works with what Karl Nova is writing about with the buses moving through the streets and the blood pumping.

And the final line is shorter with four syllables, so we naturally slow down.

In the final section of the poem, the next five lines each have 13 syllables.

These are the longest lines of the whole poem, so we naturally speed up the pace of our voice to say them.

I feel it's quite enjoyable reading that part of the poem.

Wonder what you thought.

And the final line has 11 syllables, so we can slow down a bit to close the poem.

So now that we've discussed the rhythm, do you think it affects the atmosphere of the poem? Pause the video while you discuss this with someone nearby.

Here's Andi.

"I know that the atmosphere is busy and energetic because I feel it as I read.

I think the rhythm has a big part to play, all the speeding up and slowing down makes it sound like it has an in-built energy!" Yes, I feel that too, Andi.

Love hearing that.

Here's Alex, "I agree." Oh, we're all in agreement.

"Changing the number of syllables in lots of lines alters the pace throughout.

This makes the atmosphere have lots of momentum and energy." Mm, wonderful.

I wonder if you felt that too.

True or false? The rhythm of a poem does not affect its atmosphere.

Pause the video while you decide if this is true or false and then go on to justify your answer.

Well done if you selected false and this justification, "A poem's atmosphere is created by many things, the poet's language choices, the subject matter and the rhythm." Now it's time for your task.

I would like you to practise reciting the poem, "The City of my birth", aloud.

It's available in the additional materials, and you can make notes on the poem if it helps you.

Here's some ideas you might want to note down: how many syllables each line has, and maybe you could use a code that you understand for where to speed up and slow down, like a forwards or backwards facing arrow, a highlighted colour or a line underneath certain words.

So pause the video while you have a go at practising reciting the poem, "The City of my birth." Enjoy your task.

All right, great to be back with you.

How did you get on? Did you make some notes on the poem? Did you note down how many syllables each line has? And did you note down codes that you understand to help you? However you got on, I hope you enjoyed it.

And now let's move on to the next part of our lesson, performing the poem.

Rhythm and flow are very important in this poem.

We know that Karl Nova is influenced by music from hip-hop culture.

Rhythm and flow are very important in hip-hop music too.

The rhythm of a poem allows it to flow smoothly and lyrically.

Part of making a poem flow is also about emphasising certain words.

Let's read the poem, "The City of my birth", again.

So pause the video here while you do this.

Now that you have read the poem again, which words do you think Karl Nova wants us to emphasise? Pause the video.

Share with someone nearby.

Here's Andi.

"I think the two lines with four syllables each are very important.

They force us to slow right down, so I think that Karl Nova wants us to emphasise them." All right, good point, Andi.

Here's Alex.

"I also think the words 'love', 'greatest', 'grooving', 'crack a smile', 'playground' and 'child' should be emphasised.

They are the really joyful words that Nova uses.

'Pumping' is also repeated, so it must be important." Yep, good point.

Good point there, Alex, about pumping.

And yeah, I love those words that you chose.

Made me feel joyful just hearing them.

Which words from these extracts are you going to emphasise? We will all have different ideas and opinions here, and that's okay.

So pause the video while you share with someone nearby from these, each of these extracts, which words would you emphasise.

Okay, I wonder which words you chose to emphasise.

Maybe these ones here, "as these thoughts like the River Thames flow through my mind", maybe "Like the blood pumping through my veins as my heart beats", or maybe, "I stand still on Westminster Bridge watching the movement of different people moving around, I am grooving." Hmm, interesting, isn't it, which words we choose, and remember, it's all fine, whichever words we choose.

We can have different ideas here, and that's okay.

It's time for your task.

I would like you to practise reciting the poem, "The City of my birth", again, this time focusing on the words you will emphasise.

You can make notes on a poem if it helps you.

You can use a code that you understand for the specific words and phrases that you want to emphasise when you perform.

You might use an accent sign like this.

Have fun practising reciting the poem and remember that emphasis on keywords.

I'll see you when you're finished.

How did you get on? Did you make notes on the poem? Did you use some kind of code? Did you note down which words and phrases you will emphasise when you perform? Because, the performance is coming up soon.

Here we are.

It's time for you to present your final performance of the poem.

You could perform it individually, in a pair, or in a group.

And think about all of these things, the rhythm, the flow, emphasising certain words and phrases, use of your voice, showing expression and emotion, and most of all, I hope you enjoy your performance.

I'll see you when you're finished.

Pause the video here.

Well done.

What a great performance.

I'd like you now to pause and reflect.

Did you use the rhythm, the flow of the poem to help your delivery? Did you emphasise certain words and phrases? Did you speak clearly, vary your volume and pace and show expression? I hope so.

Most important question of all.

Did you enjoy performing? That's what it's all about.

I really, really hope so.

Well done, everyone.

In our lesson, "Performing the poem, 'The City of my birth' by Karl Nova," we have covered the following.

There is a natural rhythm and flow to the poem "The City of my birth".

Karl Nova's poetry is influenced by hip-hop culture, which has strong beats and flows.

The atmosphere that Nova creates is one of a busy, energetic, and joyful city.

Practising the poem ahead of time helps to improve a performance.

Making notes on a poem ahead of a performance can help the performer remember where to emphasise certain words and where to vary their pace.

Well done, everybody.

It has been fantastic exploring this poem with you.

Well done for your performances, everybody.

You have done Karl Nova and his poetry proud.

I'll see you at another lesson soon.